Month: January 2016

Thank goodness it’s nearly time to pitch the hay bales back in the barn. Presidential candidates — declared and exploring — have been milling about Iowa for more than a year. They’ve tucked celebrities and national figures into their suitcases, unpacking them alongside talking points in cities and towns from Rock Rapids to Keosauqua. They’ve posed on our farms, sat at our kitchen tables and strolled the midway at the fair. But, with the exception of ethanol, few bothered to discuss agriculture, much less ongoing and worsening challenges in rural communities. To be fair, school transportation budgets, child poverty, broadband access, land values, post office closures, food safety, water quality, workforce challenges and the like aren’t sexy topics. They are nuanced and difficult. Threats of carpet-bombing or promises of wall…

Local advocates plan for when funding, resources end Cedar Rapids is one of only five cities in the nation chosen for a federal demonstration project to help homeless or near homeless families with an open child welfare case. Kelli Malone, chief program officer at Four Oaks, serves as project director of Partners United for Supportive Housing in Cedar Rapids, or PUSH-CR. The program currently serves 66 families — 80 parents and caregivers and 139 children. “One of the goals of PUSH-CR is to keep enrolled families preserved and unified,” Malone said. “If children are already living with relatives or in foster care at the time of enrollment, we want to get them back as quickly as possible with their family.” It’s this aspect of the program, and the supports in…

There’s something terribly sordid about schilling for the guy that diminished the distinguished military career of your former presidential running mate. Even worse is accepting an endorsement from someone who will trot out your closet’s skeletons in hope of hiding her own. “He is not a war hero,” Donald Trump said of U.S. Sen. John McCain last year at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames before he received push back from the program’s host. “I like people that weren’t captured, OK? I hate to tell you. He is a war hero because he was captured. OK, you can have — I believe perhaps he is a war hero.” And now the person selected by McCain as his presidential running mate, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has endorsed Trump, claiming both…

Sometimes, when confronted with big challenges, people freeze. But not always. Brandon Carleton is a resident of the Quad Cities who, last May, attended a conference in California and heard from an organizer of Laundry Love. The project began on the West Coast when a homeless man — Eric, who went by the nickname of T-Bone — was asked what would make a difference in his life. “If I had clean clothes,” Eric responded, “I think people would treat me like a human being.” That was 12 years ago and, in the wake of that conversation, Laundry Love was born. At its most basic level, it provides free laundry services to those in need, but the benefits hardly stop there. When Carleton, who also runs a small church out of…

Planning for a potential new public health building, Linn County has an opportunity to turn a good idea into a great one. If approved, the new facility would be located at 1019 Seventh St SE, the former Options site, and would probably require a levy, currently estimated at 6 cents per $1,000 evaluation. Area seniors, displaced and scattered since the 2008 flood claimed the Witwer Center, advocated Wednesday for the inclusion of a permanent centralized senior center. Since Cedar Rapids is the largest city in Iowa without such a hub and more than a third of all county residents are over the age of 50, the proposal and investment make sense. Supervisors also appear receptive to the idea, requesting more specific space needs as quickly as possible. Those who spoke…

Tax exemptions should be on the table The urban and rural divide is alive and thriving. The response to an appearance this week by former Iowa governor and U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack at Gov. Terry Branstad’s news conference announcing a possible extension and expansion of a penny sales tax now funneled to school infrastructure proves it. Branstad’s proposal is to extend a one-cent sales tax earmarked for school infrastructure and set to expire in 2029. The plan would keep the tax in place for 20 additional years, through 2049. While schools would continue to earn proceeds from that tax to a certain cap point, about three-quarters of future growth would be funneled to conservation efforts that help reduce farm chemical runoff and, in turn, improve Iowa’s water quality. Some…

Looking forward to hearing from the Republican candidate in the Johnson County Board of Supervisors special election? I’ve got some bad news for you. Early voting began this week for the Jan. 19 special election to replace former supervisor Terrence Neuzil, who has moved out of state. Although two candidates appear on the ballot, neither represents the Republican Party. Democrats met Dec. 16 and held a nominating convention that named Lisa Green-Douglas as their candidate. Chris Hoffman, a member of the North Liberty City Council, was nominated by petition and is running without party affiliation. Johnson County Republicans could have fielded a candidate during a December nominating convention of their own. None, however, was held. Perhaps it is Johnson County’s long-standing history of electing Democrats that has produced such apathy…

It is no secret that women earn less than men serving in the same position. Would it shock you to learn that women also pay more for the same stuff? The most recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show the median earnings for men holding full time positions in Iowa as $47,202. Women in Iowa working full time had median earnings of $36,522. For every dollar an Iowa male makes, a woman brings home 77 cents. If race is brought into the equation, women of color fare even worse. While the gap may seem small, those pennies add up. Women not burdened by the wage gap would earn enough to pay for 18 months of food for her family, or 15 months of rent, based on Census Bureau averages.…

This isn’t a resolution, but a destination — the travel to which has taken me nearly a lifetime. For years I conducted a New Year’s exercise. Anything “bad” from the previous year was written on small slips of paper and placed in a paper box or envelope. The writing, usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine, took the better part of a December evening. On the first day of January, I’d carry the package to a fireplace, outdoor grill or other suitable site for a solitary pyre service. It was a very tangible way to let go of useless baggage — lost opportunities, past misunderstandings and personal shortcomings made frequent appearances. I’d physically feel lighter watching the smoke rise, the paper blaze its way into gray ash. For the past…